Who would imagine that a girl who didn’t like mathematics would excel in science and gain international recognition. Who would think that a girl who thought that studying engineering was only for men would achieve a doctorate in nanotechnology.
“I thought it was normal that in the engineering career there were more men than women because perhaps there was no interest among women in studying engineering. When I went to Spain I realized that there were many women in the area of science,” says the Guatemalan scientist, who was recently awarded in Spain.
Her name is Susana Arrechea. She has a doctor and master’s degree in Nanotechnology from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) and a Chemical Engineer from the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC).
Choosing his university career was not easy, because in his words “he liked many things”; However, studying a scientific baccalaureate was very helpful in making the decision.
“When I was little, I didn’t feel very good at mathematics, I was even in a reinforcement class with other children in this subject. It was when I was in second grade when my teacher Elsa Izquierdo challenged me that I might be good at the subject and that she was capable. That’s how I started to like the class,” she remembers.
At the age of 16 he began his university career and while studying he also worked as a course assistant in the area of Quality, Research and Linkage in the accreditation process of the Chemical Engineering degree at USAC and supported in the area of graduation work. and private.
During her university years, Susana was interested in studying abroad, which led her to seek different international scholarships in the area of engineering. “It wasn’t easy, they said no to many scholarships, until finally the Carolina Foundation trusted me,” she says.
Susana was interested in studying a master’s degree and a doctorate in nanotechnology or “something related to the environment.” However, on the advice of several university professors, she chose nanotechnology.
“It was very challenging because I didn’t have the foundations to be able to pursue the degree, so I had to study a lot at night and during the day I was in the laboratory because basically everything was research,” he says.
With the support of both the scholarship awarded by the Carolina Foundation and the Fulbright Nexus program, he completed his doctorate in Spain. Then she began to work on another type of research, a situation that led her to work as a visiting researcher at the University of California UC-Berkeley, where she researched and collaborated on the sustainability index project for microgrids for generating electricity in communities. isolated in Latin America.
“During this stay, I met the group that started New Sun Road United States and I realized that what this group was implementing in Africa might be replicated in Guatemala,” he says.
Upon completing her studies, she returned to Guatemala to work as a researcher at USAC and at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala while participating as a volunteer in scientific communities of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and the Academy of Sciences. Medical, Physical and Natural of Guatemala.
After his work in the country, for personal reasons, he returned to the United States and it was there where the idea arose with New Sun Road United States to replicate the project in a community in Guatemala.
They decided that it would be in the digital community center of Santa Rosa and seeing the interest of people in replicating the project in various places, they co-founded New Sun Road Guatemala.
Thanks to his work, in 2017 he was awarded the Illustrious Guatemalans award in the scientific category, and the Award for Young Scientists awarded by the World Academy of Sciences.
In 2018 she was included in the magazine’s list of the 50 Challenging Women of Central America. Strategy & Business. In addition, in 2020 she was awarded the OWSD Award – Elsevier Foundation for Young Women Scientists in the Developing World, and she was also included in the list of the 100 Powerful Women of Central America of the Forbes Magazine of Central America.
Encourage people to learn regarding STEM areas
“Upon realizing the low participation of women in the area of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in Guatemala, together with the Ministry of Education and the National Secretariat of Science and Technology, I began to tell my story. history and there I realized the challenges that girls faced in studying a career in engineering because their parents didn’t let them either because they thought it was a career only for men,” she says.
This is how Susana was interested in continuing to promote these careers not only in girls and young people but also including parents and motivating children to learn regarding these areas.
Next to New Sun Road Guatemalafoundations and NGOs, Susana has managed to bring science to many rural communities, mainly training indigenous scientists.
In addition, Arrechea actively participates in Team 5—a group co-founded by her and other scientists in Guatemala—an initiative of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).
One of the initiatives of Team 5 is the National Competition for Girls and Women in Science in which they seek to get women and girls to propose alternatives for science to support different topics.
In March 2024 together with OWSD they launched the book 365 Stories by OWSD Scientists Volume I, in which 40 scientists tell their biography so that more children know them and are an inspiration. “The idea of this project is to add biographies until we have one for each day of the year so we can read them to the children before going to sleep,” she says.
Princess of Girona International Award 2024
Through a notification from the Conecta Iberoamérica group, which they sent through Telegram, Susana learned that the Princess of Girona Foundation was looking for candidates to nominate in the different categories.
The call ended in 24 hours and she applied the next night.
In April 2024, the Foundation contacted her to notify her that she was one of the five finalists of the contest and in a ceremony held on May 7, they announced her as the winner for being a co-founder of the company. New Sun Road Guatemala and for her work in educating girls and young women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.
The prize consists of a significant statuette and 20 thousand euros that Susana plans to invest in projects similar to her work in New Sun Road and the implementation of STEM in Guatemalan childhoods.
This recognition will be presented in the month of July in a ceremony attended by the Royal Family of Spain.
Engineer, scientist, woman and mother
The support of her family is a fundamental pillar for Susana, and now as a mother she wants her daughters to see her as a woman passionate regarding her roots and committed to the development of her country.
Arrechea comments that she wants both young men and girls to feel inspired to achieve what they set out to do regardless of their origin or limitations and hopes that in the future children will become interested in science.
“I would love to see more girls and boys in STEM careers and improve that opportunity for youth doing things that can impact Guatemala.”
Susana Arrechea.
Awards and honours
2017 – Illustrious Guatemalans (Scientific Category)
2017 – Prizes for Young Scientists por The Wold Academy of Sciences (TWAS)
2018 – Included in the magazine’s 50 Challenging Women of Central America list Strategy & Business.
2020 – OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award Elsevier Foundation for Young Women Scientists in the Developing World.
2020 – Included in the list of the 100 Powerful Women of Central America of the Forbes Magazine of Central America.
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